Orchard · Pear
Turnbull Giant Pear
Pyrus 'Turnbull Giant', a chance seedling of unknown parentage (1981 plant patent); often sold as a European and Asian hybrid
Very large pear found near Depew, Oklahoma
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- Hardiness
- Zone 4 to 7
- Pollination
- Not self-fertile. Partners with European or Asian pears, and is a useful pollinizer in a mixed planting See partners
- Ripens
- Two stages: crisp and apple-like at mid-season, soft and sweet at full ripeness
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At a glance
- Format
- A grafted Turnbull Giant Pear tree in an air-pruned container. A named cultivar joined to a named rootstock.
- Fruit
- Very large; the plant patent gives typical fruit of over 2 pounds. Round, green-yellow, nearly seedless
- Grown for
- Fresh eating at both stages. Excellent for pies
- Flesh
- Cream-white, smooth, sweet; very large fruit
- Origin
Discovered on the Turnbull family's property near Depew, Oklahoma. Introduced from Shenandoah, Iowa; patented 1981
About this variety
A giant pear that eats like an apple. A chance seedling that grew into a tree bearing enormous round fruit, typically over 2 pounds in the plant patent, it was taken up by a Shenandoah, Iowa, seed and nursery house and introduced commercially.
Sold as a European and Asian hybrid, it ripens in two stages: picked mid-season it is crisp, juicy and apple-like; left to ripen fully it softens into a conventional pear.
Patent status. It carried US Plant Patent 4616, granted in 1981. US plant patents run seventeen years from grant for patents of that era, so it has long expired and propagation is unrestricted.
Growing
Where it came from
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Turnbull Giant Pear
City. We know the town, city or parish, not the exact farm or tree.
Record confidence: REPORTED
See this cultivar among all origins →History and sources
Parentage. Unknown; arose as a chance seedling
Discovered as a chance seedling on the farm of Ken and Lois Turnbull near Depew, Oklahoma, reportedly after a pear seed was trodden into the soil among kitchen scraps put out for horses. The Turnbulls contacted an Iowa nursery, which confirmed it was a pear and took cuttings to establish test trees; the nursery developed the variety, which received U.S. Plant Patent 4,616 in 1981 with Kenneth L. Turnbull as co-inventor.
Sources. Christian Science Monitor, "Nature, not laboratory, produced this unique pear" (16 October 1981). U.S. Plant Patent 4,616 (1981), Kenneth L. Turnbull, co-inventor.
Reported. A credible third-party source, not independently verified. How we grade our records
In the kitchen
Pear pie
Toss 6 cups sliced pears with 1/3 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons flour, fill a crust, bake at 400°F for 45 minutes.
What can you make with this?
Recipes and drinks chosen for this cultivar's own flavor and texture, each written by Provenance Nursery and labeled with how well its history is documented.
Pear butter
Ripe pears cooked down slowly with ginger into a smooth, spoonable spread.
Role of the fruit. Sole fruit
Prep 30 min. Cook 1 to 1½ hours. Total 1 hr 30 min to 2 hr.
Ingredients
5 lb ripe European pears, peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup apple cider or water
1 to 1½ cups sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
Juice of 1 lemon
Method
1. Simmer the pears and cider, covered, until very soft, about 20 min. Purée smooth.
2. Add the sugar, ginger and lemon juice and cook uncovered over low heat, stirring often, until thick enough that a spoon leaves a clear trail, 45 min to 1 hour.
3. Jar and refrigerate.
Ripeness. Pick firm and ripen off the tree until the neck yields to gentle pressure.
Why this cultivar. Buttery, aromatic dessert pears such as Bartlett, Magness and Butirra Precoce Morettini cook down smoothly and keep their perfume. Ubileen Gift keeps only four to six days at room temperature, so pear butter is a good use for a glut. Jeribasma is traditionally used for preserves, and Shipova, a pear-whitebeam hybrid recorded for preserves, cooks the same way. Winter pears such as Johantorp can be used from storage.
Storage. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks, or freeze.
Safety. Stored refrigerated or frozen. We do not publish a canning process for pear butter.
Evidence: C. Classic style.
Open the full recipe page · Learn the technique: Simmering sauces, butters and soups
Canned pear halves (tested method)
Home-canned pears in syrup, following the tested USDA method.
Method
Follow the National Center for Home Food Preservation's method for canning pear halves.
Safety. Use the tested process times for your jar size and altitude exactly.
Evidence: Tested method. Source 1: nchfp.uga.edu (opens in a new tab)
Open the full recipe page · Learn the technique: Jams, jellies and fruit preserves
Turnbull Giant pear, roasted with pecans
Roasted wedges of an enormous Oklahoma pear finished with Southwestern pecans.
Role of the fruit. The dish
Prep 15 min. Cook 25 to 30 min at 400°F. Total 40 to 45 min.
Ingredients
1 Turnbull Giant pear, about 2 to 3 lb, or 2 smaller ones, cored and cut in thick wedges
1/3 cup chopped pecans
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
Method
1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Toss the pear wedges with the melted butter and brown sugar and spread on a sheet pan.
2. Roast 20 min, then scatter the pecans over and roast 5 to 10 min more, until the pear is tender and the pecans are toasted.
Why this cultivar. Found as a chance seedling on an Oklahoma farm and reported to reach about 3 pounds, Turnbull Giant is recorded as smooth, sweet and mild, mild enough that Southwestern pecans and brown sugar carry much of the flavor.
Evidence: D. Culinary application.
Baked Pears with Port (Eliza Leslie, 1840)
A dated recipe from Eliza Leslie's Directions for Cookery (1840), printed in its original words and adapted step by step for a modern kitchen.
Prep 15 min. Cook 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min. Total 1 hr 30 min.
Ingredients
6 large firm-ripe pears
1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar (100 g)
12 whole cloves, or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup ruby port
Method
1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Peel the pears, halve them lengthwise and scoop out the cores.
2. Lay them cut side up in a deep baking dish that holds them snugly. Pare thin strips of lemon peel and lay one in each hollow.
3. Sprinkle with the sugar and scatter the cloves or cinnamon among them. Pour the port into the dish.
4. Cover tightly with foil and bake 1 hr, then test with a skewer. Bake 10 to 15 min more if needed, until tender all through but still whole.
5. Cool in the wine. Serve at room temperature or cold with their syrup. Refrigerate, covered, up to 5 days.
Why this cultivar. Leslie names only large late 'pound pears'. The pears linked here are modern choices from our catalog, not the fruit she used.
History. Eliza Leslie's Directions for Cookery was first published in Philadelphia in 1837 and reached a tenth edition by 1840. She bakes large late 'pound pears' in port with lemon peel and cloves and notes they keep a week in cold weather. Text from the Project Gutenberg transcription of the 1840 edition.
Evidence: A. Dated published recipe. Adapted from Eliza Leslie, Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches, Philadelphia, 1840, tenth edition; first edition 1837.. Source 1: gutenberg.org (opens in a new tab)
Open the full recipe page · Learn the technique: Baking pies, crisps, tarts and breads · Read the 1840 original
More in the Provenance Kitchen and Kitchen School. Canning appears here only as links to tested methods. Evidence levels are explained on How we grade our records.
What arrives
Container sizes
Rootstock choices
- OHxF 333: about half to two thirds of standard size
- OHxF 87: about 85 to 90 percent of standard size
- OHxF 97: full size, strongest anchorage
Parts of the tree
- Scion. The named cultivar you ordered. It decides the fruit.
- Graft union. Keep it above the soil line when you plant.
- Rootstock. Sets the tree's size and part of its hardiness.
- Root system. Trained downward by the container.
- Air-pruned container. The plant comes in the container it grew in.
Drawing not to scale. Planting guide
Pickup, shipping and policy
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